Prince of Persia: Revelations

This port didn't receive royal treatment. Our review.

Whether a fan of portable gaming or not, it's easy to like a mobile port of a good game. It's not a matter of gaming tastes or system preferences. A well-developed, mobile-friendly game has almost universal appeal. The best example, of course, would be the myriad versions of Tetris. Everyone loves a game of Tetris when stuck at a hellishly dull event or when riding the bus. It's just a good game to have on the go.

The reason behind Tetris follows a few basic laws of handheld gaming. It's easy to see, easy to control and naturally mobile-friendly. The closer a portable game, regardless of system, sticks to these laws, the better the game will be. Unfortunately, when it comes to Prince of Persia: Revelations, the first game in the Prince series to hit the PSP, a few of these mobile laws get shoved aside. Not completely, but enough so that it's nowhere near the game it could have been otherwise. It's a hard game to play when traveling, plus it's hard to see due to its decidedly moody color palette. And that's just the beginning.

But first, a brief recap: Revelations isn't a new chapter in the Prince of Persia series. And it's not a remake of the original console game, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, either. It's actually a tweaked version of the second title in the series, better known as Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. Here's the first mistake in this whole deal. While a decent game, Warrior Within isn't nearly as well-designed (read: fun) as its predecessor, and it's not as good as its successor, Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, either. It would have made greater sense to port the first game, to start a PSP trilogy, or even to port the recently released Two Thrones. Either game would have made a better first showing on the PSP.

For those who don't know, you play as the titular Prince of Persia. You're basically an agile guy with unparalleled acrobatic skills. Not only that, but you're a damn good swordfighter and wall-climber, too. Good thing, since a majority of what makes the series great, even back when it was a 2D platformer for the PC, are its smart environmental puzzles. You also fight a ton of enemies using a flexible free-form fighting system. You can perform a roster of cool-looking combos, decapitations and throws. But that's not where the fun really lies. Instead, it's navigating the myriad traps, obstacles, and jumps found in virtually every area in the game. Running along walls, jumping between pillars and leaping between cliffs is at the heart of the series. It always has been.

In this regard, Revelations on PSP gets it mostly right. It's still fun getting past traps and deciphering puzzles. And chances are if you liked the design of Warrior Within, you'll like it here as well, since it's essentially identical. Unfortunately, certain factors hamper the enjoyment when it comes to the most ordinary task in Revelations. So while you're doing the same stuff as before, the difficulty of these tasks triples. In the process of porting over a complex title such as Warrior Within to the PSP, almost every facet of the game has been adversely affected. And not in a small way, either.